Madhya Pradesh government recently cleared 400 acres of land at Rs 25 lakh per acre to Patanjali Ayurveda at Pithampur.BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh government has managed to woo Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurveda Ltd to set up a Rs 500-crore food processing unit at Dhar district in the state.

"We had learnt that Maharashtra government was eager to give 400 acres of land to Patanjali for the food processing project in Nagpur. But our officials did not lose heart...kept wooing (MD) Acharya Balkrishna to come to MP and invest Rs 500 crore in the food processing project," a top official of the Madhya Pradesh Industries Department said.

Our efforts have paid off, he added.

"We have demarcated 400 acres of land to Patanjali Ayurveda in Pithampur Industrial area spread over an area of 7,000 acres in Dhar district and have got an advance of Rs 1 crore from the company," Indore MP Audyogik Kendra Vikas Nigam Managing Director Kumar Purushottam told PTI today.

Tax benefits will be given to the company according to our policies and rules, when it starts production, he said amid whispers that the BJP government in the state has gone out of the way to offer sops to Patanjali.

The company has been asked to start production in three years. Acharya Balkrishna of the Patanjali Ayurveda is in touch with us, he said.

"The food processing project is going to provide direct employment to around 700 people," the senior IAS officer said.

Two months ago, Balkrishna, in a chopper, had scouted for locations to set up the food processing unit in MP.